


Friendship On Fire

by captainamergirl



Series: Falling Softly [5]
Category: One Life to Live
Genre: Drabbles, F/M, Rare Pairings, unconventional pairing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 05:08:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17037221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl
Summary: Starr reaches for Markko and he reaches back.





	Friendship On Fire

** Time **   
  
Starr watched as Hope and Markko played together on the rich carpeting of the living room at LaBoulaie. Markko stacked blocks and Hope immediately knocked them down again. It had become a battle of wills. Who would come out the victor - the man, or the four-year-old? Starr would put her money on her daughter. The little tyke was every bit as stubborn as her parents.   
  
Her thoughts quickly turned to Cole as she witnessed the stark determination in her daughter’s brown eyes. She saw so much of her soulmate in their daughter.   
  
_Sometimes it really hurt._   
  
She longed to smile at the antics of her child and bestfriend, but she couldn’t seem to manage it. Not today, and probably not tomorrow either. It had truthfully been a long time since she was truly happy. Three years, seven months, two weeks, fourteen days, ten hours, fifty two minutes, and twelve seconds to be exact.  _Whomever said that time healed all wounds was full of shit._ Likely, they’d never lost the love of their life to a prison sentence, or had to watch their little child grow up without a father.   
  
Starr had tried to move on, but it seemed that she was mired in a constant state of inertia -- ever-jogging on a slow treadmill to hell. She’d tried dating again; that’s what Cole had said wanted her to do; though whether he’d truly meant it or not, she couldn’t be truly sure. She’d actually even given her body to one man; a kind, handsome guy named James. The one thing she couldn’t give him though? Her heart. No, Cole Thornhart seemed to have had that on permanent lock-down.   
  
Markko looked at her as he gathered several blocks together and started the slow process of rebuilding his tower yet again. “Penny for your thoughts?” He said.   
  
Starr sighed, rested her chin in her cupped hands. “I went up to Statesville to see him yesterday.” They both knew who she meant.   
  
Markko nodded. “How was he?”   
  
“I don’t know. He refused to see me.”   
  
“What?  _Why?”_   
  
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe something happened to him. Maybe he got hurt again, and knowing how I reacted the last time …” Her voice trailed off. She vividly remembered a day several months before when she’d gone to the prison for her bi-weekly visit. Through the Plexiglass, she'd seen his skin was mottled and gray. He’d had a busted lip and a cut running the length of his brow. His eyes were both bruised black and blue.   
  
Her first instinct had been to scream, but she'd known if she started, she would never stop. She’d told herself to be brave. She was a Cramer woman. They were made of the strongest stuff. She'd spent the whole time with him though white-knuckling the chair beneath her.   
  
Cole had said he looked worse than he really was. He even tried to make a joke out of it, saying he should have ducked a lot sooner. She had seen the misery in his eyes though; had known that he was not doing well. Each time she saw him, there was a little less light radiating from inside of him.   
  
Markko stared at her searchingly. She knew by now she wouldn’t see pity in his eyes. He hadn’t wanted her to look at him like that; so he wouldn’t do that to her either. He instead offered her a sad smile. “I'll find out what happened with him. I can go first thing in the morning.”   
  
Starr shook her head. “No, don’t. He’ll feel like we’re ganging up on him. He will call us when he’s ready.”   
  
_God willing._   
  
“Alright.” He sighed. “It’s almost dinnertime, and since Hope’s obviously not going to let me build my castle in the sky, what do you say we all go out to dinner?”   
  
“I guess I could eat,” Starr allowed..   
  
Markko offered her a smile. “Good, because you’re getting a little too thin.”   
  
“Looks who’s talking,” Starr replied. “You’ve taken off twenty pounds you couldn’t afford to lose.”   
  
He didn’t answer; just climbed to his feet after tossing the blocks into a nearby basket. “Hope, you hungry, bug?” Starr asked. Hope nodded eagerly.   
  
“Let’s go to the Buenos Dias Cafe,” Markko said. “You like their quesadillas, don’t you, kiddo?”   
  
Hope nodded, trying the word out on her tongue. “I like ‘esodillas.”   
  
Markko chuckled. “Me too, and Carlotta Vega makes the very best ones in Pennsylvania.” He looked at Starr. “Ready to head out?”   
  
Starr nodded. “Okay.” She held out her hand to Hope, but the little blonde looked up at Markko with a hopeful smile.   
  
“Daddy, pick me up,” she said.   
  
Starr watched Markko’s eyes go wide. Her own heart thudded to a painful stop. Hope held up her arms. “Daddy,” she said again,  _“up, up!”_   
  
Markko carefully scooped the little girl up into his arms. He held her close for a long moment. “Hope,” he said gently. “I have something to show you, okay?” Hope nodded, snuggling against his chest as he pulled his leather wallet from the back pocket of his jeans. He flipped it open.   
  
From her vantage point, Starr could make out a picture of her, Langston, Cole, and Markko in much happier times. They were all smiles as they hugged each other tightly; clearly not having a single care in the world. Her eyes burned. How could she still be so affected by a simple photograph? When did that fabled healing finally begin?   
  
She’d survived a tumultuous childhood with humor and bravado, but this... This was enough to almost break her.   
  
“Hope, honey, I’m not your Daddy,” Markko said gently. “This -” he pointed to Cole in the picture - “is your Daddy. His name is Cole. You know I love you a lot, but so does he. He would be here if he could. He wants you to be happy; he also wants you to be a good girl for your Mommy, okay?"   
  
Hope looked confused as she lay her finger on Cole’s face in the photo. “Daddy?  _My_ Daddy?”   
  
“Yes, that's your dad. He’ll be back for you one day. For you and your Mom both.”   
  
Hope probably didn’t quite understand what he was saying, but she seemed agreeable.   
  
Starr looked at Markko gratefully. She wasn’t sure she could have explained the situation quite as delicately.   
  
Markko pulled the photo from the wallet’s plastic sleeve and held it out to Hope. “Do you want to hold this for awhile?” He asked.   
  
Hope smiled and nodded. She curled her tiny fingers around the picture, staring at it as they all moved towards the door.   
  
Starr lightly tapped Markko’s shoulder. “Thank you,” she said. “You always seem to know the right thing to say.”   
  
Markko shrugged. “I just didn’t want her to be confused. I would never try to take Cole’s place. You know I couldn’t.”   
  
“You’re a good person, Markko.” Starr gave him a hug, sandwiching Hope between them. The little girl laughed and Starr’s lips even tugged upwards a bit. Maybe, just maybe, she would smile today after all.


End file.
